All At Once
by mysticmonkey86
Summary: Rachel Berry has everything. Sam Evans has nothing. Will a game of Truth or Dare change everything?
1. Chapter 1

Rachel Berry sauntered along the football field with a smug smile on her face. The grin increased as she walked past the McKinley High football team to a chorus of compliments.

"Looking good Berry."

"Hey girl, why don't you come watch us train? With you there cheering us on, we are sure to win."

"Back off Mike, she only has eyes for me. Don't you Rachel?"

She shook her head and giggled, stopping to face the boys that had gathered to look at her. Her long glossy brunette hair hung in a sleek ponytail, showing off the pretty features of her face. Her big brown eyes sparkled with amusement as she took in the sight before her. Today, she had worn her cream pencil skirt with a tight fitting black t-shirt. She always dressed immaculately, it was just a part of her character. She wasn't quite rich enough to never wear the same outfit twice, but she certainly never wore an outfit to school during the year more than once. She quickly glanced at her cream coloured high heels to make sure they weren't covered in grass stains and mud, before looking back up at the guys stood around her.

"Come on now, you all know I would rather sit on a bed of rusty pins than watch you train. I tell you every lunch time, you won't be getting any of my precious minutes. I'm a busy girl. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go eat lunch with my girls." She started to walk away to the sound of jeering from some of the guys. They were used to girls falling at their feet, they didn't take it too well when she turned them down multiple times a day. She looked over her shoulder at Noah Puckerman, one of the baddest boys in school and the best scorer in all the games. "Rather than shouting at poor innocents like me who dare to walk across this field, perhaps you can encourage your team to put in some extra training. You all need it. I don't associate with losers." She turned back to walk away properly now, that satisfied grin from before returning to her at the look of utter humiliation on Pucks face. It was about time he was taken down a peg or two. All he did was try to sleep with as many girls as he could at this school and she for one was fed up of it.

She made her way to the bleachers where she knew her friends would be waiting. It was where they ate lunch every day and put the worlds to right. The girls she gathered here with had been her friends for years, so she knew they didn't just hang out with her because she was the most popular girl in school or because her two gay Dads were both super talented musicians who had got to go on tour with huge acts like Stevie Wonder and more recently, Adele. Sure, she was the only girl in her year whose parents had a swimming pool in their backyard, but she knew her friends just liked her for her, not because of all the fortunate circumstances that surrounded her.

"Tell me Rachel, will there ever be a day you walk past that football team where they don't all worship you and fall at your feet?"

Rachel rolled her eyes as she sat down next to her friends. Mercedes, Tina, Santana and Brittany were all here every lunch come rain or shine, in this exact spot. Sometimes, their friend Kurt would join them if he wasn't too busy skipping his lunchtimes to go and see his new boyfriend Blaine from a nearby school - Dalton Academy. He wasn't at the bleachers today, he was obviously with his new love.

"It's not my fault Tina! I can't make them stop yelling at me. I have asked them plenty of times."

Santana nudged Rachel in a playful way.

"Oh quit it Berry, you love the attention they give you. You wouldn't have it any other way."

They all started laughing and murmuring in agreement while Rachel rolled her eyes again, unwrapping her cheese salad sandwich her Dads had made her before school this morning.

"Boring, can we please talk about something else now?"

She took a bite of the sandwich as Mercedes started talking.

"Actually, now we are all here, I have something to tell y'all. I don't know if you've heard it but there is this new viral thing going round...Truth or Dare."

Rachel immersed herself in her sandwich, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. If she was being honest, she hated the way everyone around her was so social media crazy. She only had all the social media accounts because it would raise eyebrows if she didn't, but she would have been quite happy to delete all of her Twitter, Facebook and whatever else accounts. In her opinion, they caused nothing but trouble.

"Oh come on, Truth and Dare isn't exactly a new thing." Brittany, the quietest one in the group laughed as she threw a chip at Mercedes.

Mercedes huffed and got that angry glare in her eyes, she was well known for being a fiery character.

"I know that Britt. But this is the ultimate truth and dare. It's not like any normal game. It's intense."

Santana's eyes widened and she leaned forward with interest. She was always the type to love stuff like this. Rachel on the other hand...well, it was her worst nightmare.

"Go on, tell me more."

Mercedes smiled at Santana and looked around at the rest of the group, making sure she had their attention.

"Basically, it's like a chain. There is this Mckinley High group on Facebook dedicated to this truth or dare game. I have no idea who started it but it's pretty much going on at every school in America right now. You join the group and that very night, you get your dare."

Rachel raised an eyebrow as she finished her sandwich.

"Wait a minute, so it's just called Dare then? Why has the option for 'truth' disappeared?"

"It's disappeared because it's boring Rachel. Nobody picks truth anymore. Where is the fun in that? Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so you get your dare...and you have to keep it a secret. And the dare isn't like throwing toilet paper at someones car or wearing smudged lipstick to school. The dares are designed to last a while. More like projects than dares."

"What sort of dares are we talking? I mean... how long can a dare be exactly?"Tina sounded nervous as she asked the question.

Mercedes shrugged.

"I don't know. The dares are top secret until you have completed them. As far as I know, nobody at McKinley have completed their dares yet. You have to document how the dare is going with an online blog set to private, then you have to make the blog public once the dare is completed so everyone has proof that you have indeed been completing the dare. For example, I read at one school that a guy had to pretend he had been kicked out of school. He had to fake it to his Mom and Dad for a couple of weeks. In the end, he missed so much school to make this story believable that he actually did end up getting kicked out and his parents were in bits."

Rachel gasped while the others laughed.

"That's awful. Why would anyone want to go through that? It's absurd."

Mercedes shot Rachel a look. A look Rachel had come to know as a warning sign before she lost her temper.

"It's the game Rachel. Now who's in?"

All the girls around her put their hands up. Rachel was the only one who didn't.

Santana nudged her again, harder than before.

"Come on Berry, don't be a misery. It will be fun. Besides, you are the queen of this entire school, the apple of your Dads eyes. I'm sure you will be able to get away with just about anything."

Rachel closed her eyes briefly and despite her entire body screaming for her not to do this, she raised her hand. The girls squealed and group hugged. Rachel watched with a racing heart as Mercedes pulled out her phone and signed everyone up to the McKinley High Truth or Dare group on Facebook.

"And now, we wait. Come on, let's go freshen up in the toilets before class starts."

They all followed Mercedes lead and walked across the football field once more. Rachel was filled with so many worried thoughts about the truth or dare game she didn't even hear the football team calling out for her this time round. As they neared the school building, Santana scoffed.

"Oh look, It's Loser McWasteofSpace."

Rachel looked towards where Santana was pointing. There, underneath the huge tree at the end of the football field, sat Sam Evans. For as long as she could remember, Sam had been...well...a loser. He didn't talk to anyone. He didn't have any friends. Every day when the lunch bell rang out, just as Rachel and her girls would head for the bleachers, Sam would head for this particular tree. He would sit underneath it by himself and read a book. He didn't pay attention to anyone around him. She had seen the football team actually throwing food at him before and it was like he hadn't even noticed. He never ate lunch despite it being lunch time. He wasn't in any of her classes so she didn't know too much about his grades or anything. She only knew that he was out of place. He didn't fit in here. He was tall and had the build of someone that wouldn't be out of place as a quarterback on the football team. He had blonde hair that he sometimes let grow long enough to pull back in a hair tie. His hair wasn't quite that long just yet but it was getting there, she thought. It flopped over his face as he buried himself in the book. He had ocean blue eyes that always seemed to have an intensity about them and his lips were big and full. Rachel couldn't be certain but she thought he also had dimples. Considering she had never seen him smile or even knew if he was capable of it, she just did not know. But one thing she and the whole school knew for sure...he was an outcast. It had started to be routine for Santana to shout mean things at him as they walked by, quite often with the other girls joining in. In fact, the whole school liked to yell things and throw insults at Sam Evans as he sat under the tree and it was like he never even noticed.

"I'm surprised that tree hasn't fallen to the ground and died yet with that freak of nature spreading misery into it's roots every single day." Tina howled at her own joke as the rest of the girls laughed. Brittany kicked a rotten banana peel Sams way. It stopped just before his shoe, but he didn't even flinch. Personally, Rachel didn't hurl insults at Sam or any of the less popular kids at school. The only ones she ever felt the need to insult sometimes were the football team or even her own friends. They were the sort of people who needed taking down from their thrones. She didn't see what good it would do heaping cruel taunts on the people that already lived with a world of bullying day in, day out. She knew how lucky she was to be popular. To have it all. She would hate to be in a less fortunate position.

She pushed past her friends, wanting to get her books from the locker for her next class. And in truth, wanting to be away from them while they continued to throw insults at Sam Evans. The afternoon passed slowly and by the time the end of day bell rang, Rachel decided she was so tired that she would go home and nap by the pool. It was nice weather out, not too warm and not too cool. It was just right.

She threw her school bag down in the hall, found the note from her Dads saying they wouldn't be back til later and that she could order takeout with the money they had left on the kitchen counter top and poured herself a drink of ice cold orange juice.

She made her way to the pool and got settled on one of the sun loungers, feeling relaxed for the first time that day. Just as she started to drift off, her phone buzzed with a notification. Moaning, in frustration, she sat up to find out who had disturbed her peace. She swallowed as she saw she had a message from the McKinley High Truth or Dare group. With shaky hands, she opened it up.

'Rachel Berry...welcome to the truth or dare McKinley High Facebook group!

Your truth is that you only signed up for this game to do a dare.

The rules are simple.

The dare is a secret. Tell no-one. I have ways of finding out if this rule has been broken.

It can last as long as you want providing the dare has been completed to satisfaction. Failure is not an option. All dares in this group have been designed to last for at least a week. But how long it lasts over the initial seven days is up to you!

You must start up your own private blog right now to detail the dare you are given. You will write frequent posts about how you are carrying out your dare. Once the dare has finished and you are happy you succeeded, send the blog in messenger to this group where it will be read. Then you must make it public.

Lastly, the owner of this group is top secret. It is run by one person and I will not reveal my identity until everyone has completed their dares. Because I run the group, it is up to me and me alone to dish out the dares. I am exempt from carrying out any dares.

Please re-read this message carefully and watch the clock. In exactly five minutes from this message being sent, you will be given your dare.

Thanks for joining the game.

Have fun. Be Daring.'

Rachel checked the time the message was sent. By her reckoning, she only had three minutes until her dare was sent to her. Why did she feel so nervous? She took a sip of her orange juice, wondering if she should message any of her friends. But no, she couldn't do that. This whole thing had to be kept a secret. Of course, they all knew each other would be doing dares, but what the dare was would remain a mystery. Who knew how long this would go on for? She was certain however, that once all this was over, she would be deleting all social media accounts. She hated Facebook anyway, and if she didn't have an account in the first place, she wouldn't have felt peer pressured into signing up for this.

She jumped as the phone she held in her hands beeped loudly with another message. Taking a deep breath, she opened it, her heart beating so loud when she read what she had to do she thought it might explode.

'Rachel Berry...Your dare is to make Sam Evans AKA McKinley High Schools biggest loser...Fall in love with you. Your dare is not over until Sam utters those three magic words "I love you" to your face.

Have fun. Be daring.'

Rachel stared at her screen, reading the message over and over again, hoping this was some bad dream she would wake up from. She couldn't even begin to think of the hows and the details. It was cruel. It was a horrible dare. She couldn't do it, but she knew she had to.

Making Sam fall in love with her would be impossible. And how could anyone achieve the impossible?


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel ran upstairs and grabbed her silver laptop from the bedside table. Her hands were still shaking and her throat felt unbelievably dry despite drinking more of her orange juice. She opened up the laptop and waited for the screen to load up. She could hear her heart beating underneath her t-shirt.

She googled free blog sites so she could start a blog about the dare. She found a suitable site and set the blog to private so only she could access it.

She sat there debating what to call her blog for ages. In the end, she just settled with the simple title of 'Sam Evans - A Story.'

She could barely re-read her first entry to check for spelling errors because she was so appalled that she had agreed to do this. She imagined how it would feel if someone made her fall in love for a joke. She couldn't stand the thought.

"Today, I received my dare. It's a complicated one and to be honest, I'm not sure if I can ever complete it. Make Sam Evans fall in love with me. Make him say the words 'I love you'  
But how do you make someone fall in love with you? How can you know what love is if you have never experienced it yourself. I read the rules carefully and have determined that there is nothing stating that I can't apologise.  
Sam Evans, when this blog becomes public knowledge and if you ever read this...I am sorry. I am already sorry for what I haven't done. I hope I can make this dare somewhat easy for you without you being hurt too much. I hope that one day you will look back on it all and laugh. And I hope that soon, the time will come for me where I don't feel so scared and pushed into going with the crowd that I can stand up for myself and never do another thing like this again.  
But for now, I'm a coward. And I admit that.  
This is the day I received my dare. And right now, I hate all of this."

She saved her work and checked that it was set to private once more, then she closed her laptop and sunk onto her bed, wondering where to start with this messed up dare.

She desperately wanted some advice from her friends on how to go about this, but it would break the rules. She wanted to know what their dares were. Were they as bad as this one? Were they life changing? Was all of this stress and worry about tricking other people really worth their time and energy?

Thoughts circled round and round on how she could complete her dare. She didn't have any classes with Sam. She had no clue where abouts he lived so couldn't catch him on the way to school or home. The only thing she could reasonably do was start talking to him tomorrow lunch time at the tree. But everyone would know. Her friends would see her talking to Sam and instantly suss that her dare involved him. But then...did it really matter? The rules only stated that couldn't tell anyone what the dare was. So by that reasoning, if the girls and people at school guessed what her dare was simply by her actions, then she wasn't breaking any rules at all. She would much rather everyone thought it was because of the dare anyway. She didn't agree with doing the dare and thought it would be very hurtful to Sam, but in all honesty...it would be embarrassing for people to think she actually wanted to spend time with really was the school loser. A joke. It wouldn't do her reputation any good to be seen with him for no reason at all.

She decided her plan of action was to go and talk to him under the tree at lunch time. It was the only way she would get anywhere with Sam Evans. She fretted about the dare all night and didn't get a wink of sleep. As the morning came round, she forced herself to have some toast, then splashed cold water on her face in an attempt to brighten her tired eyes. She picked out some simple jeans and a light brown button up shirt to wear with suede boots. She left her hair loose today, tumbling over her shoulders. She was too tense about this stupid dare to really do much with herself anyway, but she was passable.

She found the girls by the lockers this morning. It was amazing to Rachel just how normal they all looked. Hadn't they all been worried by their dares at all? Or perhaps their dares weren't as bad as hers. Maybe they had really easy ones.

"Hey everyone!" She tried to keep her voice light and breezy. Normal. They all greeted her and started talking about the lessons they had that day. She knew she would have to interrupt. "Uh, girls...about lunchtime...I uh...I'm not going to be able to meet you at the bleachers. I have to go and do some other stuff." She knew her cheeks were going pink, but she couldn't help it. The group looked at each other knowingly.

"It's OK Rachel, I'm not there for lunch anyway today as I have to see the headteacher." Everyone turned to look at Brittany. As long as she had been at this school, she hadn't ever had to miss her lunch or stay after school to see a teacher. She was a grade A student. It was to do with the dare, Rachel just knew it.

"The head? Really? What for?"

Britt shrugged and suddenly found her shoes very interesting.

"I'm not sure yet. Y'all can know the details when it's time if you catch my drift?"

Tina, Mercedes and Santana all nodded, amusement in their eyes. But Rachel eyed her friend suspiciously.

"Listen Britt, just don't throw away all your good work at this school for a dare will you? It's not worth it. Don't go getting in trouble with the teachers."

Santana put her fingers to her lips and glared at Rachel.

"Shut it Berry, we can't talk about it, remember?"

Rachel sighed.

"Whatever."

She flounced off down the corridor, not wanting to be around the girls anymore. None of them found all this as hard as she did. They didn't understand that this just wasn't her sort of thing.

She clock watched until lunchtime. As soon as the bell rang, she ran to the cafeteria to grab a pasta salad and headed straight for the tree. She knew if she delayed in anyway, she would never carry it through. She hadn't yet planned out what she would say, she just hoped the conversation would flow in a way that she could carry it on.

As she strode along the field, she saw him sitting there in the shadow of the tree as usual, his head buried in a book, his hair flopping over his face. She took a deep breath and stopped just beside him, looking down at him, waiting for him to notice her. When she realised he wasn't going to look up at all, she sat down beside him, opening up her pasta salad and stabbing at it with a fork. He sat up a bit straighter and reluctantly closed his book. He ran a hand through his hair and turned to look at her, a frown on his face.

"Is there something you want?"

His voice was gruff and low, not exactly welcoming. Rachel swallowed her mouthful of food and gave him her best smile.

"Hi! I'm Rachel. Rachel Berry."

She stuck out a hand for him to shake while setting her pasta aside. He looked at her hand like it was a piece of trash, then back at her.

"I know who you are. What do you want?"

She shrugged and moved her hand back to rest on her lap, realising that this wasn't going to be easy.

"In a way...yes. There is something I wanted. I uh...I was wondering if I could sit with you for a while."

He eyed her suspiciously. She couldn't help but admire his eyes. They seemed kind and loving, yet there was a story in them. An intensity. A sadness she couldn't put her finger on.

"I don't own the school. Sit where you want."

He picked his book up and flicked it open to the page he had been reading. Rachel suddenly felt out of her depth, wondering how she was ever going to progress with this dare if he was this hostile.

"I thought...I thought maybe you might want to talk?"

He didn't shift his eyes from the page he was reading. Instead, he just nodded at his book.

"I'm reading."

She picked up her pasta salad and started eating again. She thought some food might help her to work out what she could say. After a while, she put down her empty lunch container and glanced at the book he was reading. Because of the angle he was sat, she couldn't tell what book it was.

"What are you reading?"

Again, he didn't look her way. He shrugged.

"A book."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh really? No way. Come on Sam, don't be so cold. What are you reading?"

He sighed and held the book up so she could see.

"Misery by Stephen King. Oh...well uh, that seems pretty apt for you right now I must say."

He didn't so much as acknowledge her insult towards him. He just lifted his book up again to start reading. She knew one thing for sure, he was hard work.

"Is it any good?"

"It's a Stephen King book. He's not known for being crap is he?"

She rolled her eyes. He was something else.

"OK, let me rephrase that. Are you enjoying the book?"

He put the book down again and studied her, as if debating with himself whether he should answer her.

"I was enjoying it before being interrupted. But uh...Stephen King isn't really my thing."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Then why are you reading one of his books?"

He shrugged and leaned back against the tree in an easy manner. She sat back with him. It was quite peaceful under here in a way, watching the world go by.

"I am reading all of his books. Every book he had ever had published under his name and under the other names he has published as an author."

She scratched her head in confusion, closing her eyes against the piercing sun.

"I mean...that seems like an awful lot of trouble for someone who isn't really 'into' Stephen King. What's the reason?"

She opened her eyes to see his response. She had to admit to herself he was intriguing her.

"It's just a thing I do. I pick a random popular author out of a hat and see if I can read all of their books in one year. I have twenty-seven more books to read. There are some really good ones in his collection. I mean...he is one of the best writers in the world. But the whole crime and horror thing...it's just not really me."

Rachel was suitably impressed. He had some dedication to do that year in, year out.

"Wow. Well, I hope you get to finish your twenty-seven books for the year."

He nodded and picked up his book again, but he didn't open it.

"I will. I always do. But uh... so I can comfortably get back to my book, can we just get this over with?"

Rachel angled her body to face him, confusion over her face.

"Get what over with?"

He looked at the cover of his book sadly, she could see it had the schools library stamp on it.

"I have been at this school for years now Rachel. In fact, I'm one of the oldest students here. I'll be eighteen soon. Those years have made me wise. I'm not an idiot. I'm not a fool. You can throw whatever it is you want at me, you can call me whatever names you can think of, you can trip me over or steal my bike...but you can't affect me. You can't get to me. So just hurry up, make a mockery of me so everyone can see and then be on your way so we can both resume our normal lives, yes?"

For a moment, she was stunned. Lost for words. She knew that he was the school joke, but having sat there with him for a good forty minutes, she didn't understand why that was. He seemed perfectly normal to her. If there was anything she wanted to achieve during this awful dare, she wanted it to be some sort of understanding on why the school hated him so much. She shook her head, suddenly feeling desperately sorry for him.

"Sam...I'm not here to pick on you or tease you in anyway. What do you think I'm going to do, throw a slushy in your face or something?"

He looked up at her now, wariness written all over his face.

"Why not? I've had fifty-six slushies thrown in my face since I've been at this school. You wouldn't be the first."

Her mouth dropped open.

"Fifty-six slushies? That's crazy."

He shrugged.

"Slushy throwing is one of the easier things about being bullied. Trust me."

She watched as he bit his lip and stared ahead into the distance. For a moment, she actually felt the pain he must feel every day spread inside her. It was a horrible feeling.

"But...but why? Why do people pick on you so much? What have you done to this school to make people act that way towards you?"

He laughed. She had been right about the dimples.

"Why are you popular? What's so great about you that makes everyone in this school treat you with respect? It's just one of those things. Now come on, give me your worst. The bells going to go in a minute for afternoon class and I would rather have the humiliation over and done with by then."

He stood up and put his hand against the tree as if to steady himself. She stood with him and very gently placed her hand on his arm.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not here to humiliate you. Go to class. Read some more of that book and fill me in tomorrow."

Sam looked down at her hand. She moved off him, looking down at the ground.

"Tomorrow? What...what do you mean fill you in tomorrow?"

She looked up at him, into his still wary eyes. She felt her heart warm towards him.

"I will come sit with you at lunch tomorrow. I want to know how this book challenge is going to go. Besides, I liked it here today. It was peaceful."

He looked bewildered and stuffed his hand into his back pocket.

"Oh. Uh...well, I guess...I guess I can erm...let you know how it's going then. If you stop by."

She smiled softly.

"I will stop by. See you tomorrow Sam."

She walked off into the school and headed for the toilets. She locked herself into a cubicle and pulled her mobile phone out. She pulled up the McKinley High Truth or Dare group and quickly tapped out a message.

"Hi to whoever you are. As from this moment, I want no part in my dare. It was foolish to even think I could be comfortable with lying and playing someones feelings. I have no interest in continuing or finishing the dare. I urge you to consider sharing this message with others so they can see they don't have to take part due to peer pressure. We are teenagers. We should be having fun, not ruining lives. Sincerely, Rachel Berry."

She pressed send and walked off to her afternoon classes, feeling lighter than she had felt in a long time.


	3. Chapter 3

Rachel was no fool. She had seen movies, read books, binge watched all those TV shows on Netflix where somebody lived a lie and got caught. Well that wasn't going to happen to her. Tomorrow at lunch, she would tell Sam Evans exactly why she had sat with him in the first place. She would let him know the truth now before anyone else could tell him. She felt at peace with herself now she had dropped out of the dare. The McKinley High Truth or Dare page hadn't messaged her back and when she went on Facebook later that day, she saw that she had been deleted and blocked by whoever had been running it. She could cope with that. She deliberately avoided the girls for the rest of the day. She didn't want to explain to them just yet that she had dropped out. She hoped that they would stick by her. They were friends after all.

She hadn't taken her car that morning, a choice she began to regret on the way home. Five minutes in to the journey, a car pulled up alongside her and stopped. She was relieved to see Kurt was in the passenger seat, telling her to hop in the back of the car. She got in and was introduced to Blaine, Kurts boyfriend who happened to be driving. After all the pleasantries they fell into a comfortable silence. Rachel could see Kurt keep looking at her in the rear view mirror.

"Rachel, are you OK, is something on your mind?"

She shrugged and then decided she might as well let it out. What did she have to lose now she had dropped out of the dare? Besides, she somehow felt that Kurt wouldn't judge her like the girls would.

"It's just...well, I don't know if you guys know, but there is this viral thing going round on Facebook."

Kurt grimaced while Blaine shook his head.

"No, I don't have Facebook. When I first came out at my school, I got bullied. I mean, people came down really hard on me. I shut down all my social media accounts and changed schools. Dalton is very supportive and loving but the thought of going back on Facebook fills me with dread. When I do get it back, it will be strictly for close friends and family. That's it."

Rachel had decided in the short time she had been in Blaines car that she really liked him. He was lovely and most of all, good for Kurt.

"I have Facebook as you know but I barely use it. I would have no idea what the latest viral thing was if it slapped me in the face."

Rachel decided to tell them everything. About the girls all wanting to partake in the dare, about the moment she received her dare and what she did earlier that day. She told them about talking to Sam and calling off the dare a little while afterwards. By this time, they had pulled up outside her house after Rachel had given Blaine directions on where to go. They all got out of the car and she invited them in. The boys spoke as she made drinks and snacks.

"OK, first of all..stop panicking. The dare was stupid and I have no idea why so many people would be willing to do it. You are completely in the right for ending it."

She smiled at Kurt, he somehow always knew the right thing to say.

"Yeah Rachel, Kurts so right. You don't need to fret about anything. It just proves you are a good person with morals. And listen, if you don't want to have Facebook or any of those sites, delete them. You will feel so much freedom in getting rid. Or at least delete the whole school and just keep the accounts for friends and family. I mean, how many of those Facebook friends do you actually speak to?"

She nodded and ushered them both over to the sofa.

"You are right. I will do it tonight. I will have a mass clear out and see if it makes me feel better. If not, I'll just get rid."

Kurt nodded.

"Good plan. And Rachel, as for Sam...what are you going to do now you've quit the dare?"

She studied her hands for a minute. She had been thinking the same thing, but in her heart, she knew that she would go back to the tree tomorrow lunch.

"I'm going to stand by what I said to him. I will go back and sit with him. I have to confess to him anyway and after that, if he is OK with it...maybe we can talk about books again. I mean...I don't know, maybe there is something inside of him. Something or someone that I want to get to know."

Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone has something about them Rachel. We must never, ever assume someone is worthless just because other people don't like them."

The trio talked until it was time for Blaine and Kurt to go home and have dinner. Rachel had decided that Kurt and Blaine were the perfect couple and she had even suggested that Blaine should move to McKinley High. To her surprise, he told her he would think about it. She kept to her word and skimmed her Facebook friends to just forty that night. She felt much better for it.

The next morning she threw on her favourite yellow summer dress and pumps, straightened her hair and went into school feeling nervous about telling Sam everything, but certain it was the right thing. She managed a quick hello to Tina and Santana in the morning. She had no idea where Britt was and Mercedes was nowhere to be found either. She hoped it was nothing to do with these stupid dares but she suspected it was.

At lunch, she went to the cafeteria and bought two sandwiches and two peaches. She didn't know why Sam never ate at lunch, but maybe the food would soften the blow of what she had to tell him.

Today, he wasn't quite so hunched over his book as he usually was. He still had it open and his head down, but he looked a bit more lively. She sat down beside him and he gave her a quick nod, before returning to his book.

"So, what do you want? Chicken salad or pb + jelly?"

She threw him one of the peaches which he caught despite being off guard.

"What?"

"What sandwich would you like?"

"Have you poisoned it?"

Rachel chuckled, he looked so unsure of himself right now it was quite comical.

"You will have to eat it and find out, it's your call."

He meekly pointed to the pb + jelly and she handed it to him. He examined it carefully before deciding it hadn't been tampered with. He opened it and took a bite, closing his eyes momentarily in appreciation.

"Sam, why do you never eat lunch?"

She watched as his cheeks turned slightly pink. He looked at his open book, but she knew he wasn't reading it at this point.

"I uh..." He cleared his throat and shuffled awkwardly, still looking at his book. "I can't afford lunch."

Rachel couldn't help the pity that was visible on her face. She was glad he wasn't looking at her right now. She didn't want him to be more embarrassed than he already was.

"Oh Sam. I'm sorry, I just assumed...I don't know...You know there is an in school program to help you out with that? You don't have to struggle, you can just hand in a card at lunch and they..."

"I might not have much, but I have my pride OK? You are crazy if you think I will give the jerks at this school one more thing to pick on me about. It's not going to happen."

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. The kids at this school would be relentless in mocking Sam for having a free lunch card. It was wrong on so many levels, but teens nowadays were cruel.

"OK, I see your point. But...but what about making cheap lunches at home? There has to be a way so you don't miss out on lunch. It's not fair on you."

"I do make cheap lunches at home. I make them up and give them to my younger siblings. I don't dare take any for myself because the lunch budget we have allocated is barely enough to feed them, and they are more important you know? They are younger. They don't deal with hunger as good. Can we drop this now?"

She nodded and took a bite of her sandwich. She really wanted to donate her sandwich to him now she knew the truth but had a strong feeling it would offend him.

"It's refreshing that you were so honest with me just then."

He glanced away from his book to look at her.

"It's always best to be honest, don't you think? I can't lie about who I am. I could tell you I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams and live in a castle but it wouldn't get us anywhere now would it?"

She nodded in agreement and took a deep breath. It was now or never. To his surprise, she took the book off his lap and set it aside.

"Sam...I ...I have to tell you something. I like to think I'm an honest person and so I have to be truthful with you."

He was still looking at her, his jaw had set in a hard line, his eyes colder somehow.

"I knew it. I knew that there was some catch to you being here. This is going to be a big one, I know it. Total humiliation at the hands of the most popular girl in school. Come on, give me what you got."

She didn't know what made her reach out for his hand. It was a combination of her guilt and how he was so resigned that people were automatically going to be awful to him. Her head hurt with the sadness of it all. She saw him swallow as she grasped his hand, him looking as shocked as she felt by her actions.

"You are right, it is a big one...but before I go any further I want you to know I stopped it. And I'm here today because I want to be. Just remember that, OK?"

He nodded, but didn't look at all convinced.

"There's this thing going round on Facebook. A viral thing. Have you heard about it?"

"If I can't afford lunch what makes you think I can afford Facebook? I don't have a phone."

The news that a teenager in this modern age didn't have a phone startled her a bit, but she pushed on.

"OK, fair enough. Well there is this viral game of truth or dare going round, but you don't get a truth, just a dare."

"So the game should just be called dare then?"

Despite herself, she laughed.

"I said something similar when I heard."

He smiled a bit at that and gestured for her to carry on with the story.

"The girls all decided they wanted to do it and I was weak, I let them push me into it. I was reluctant but I guess I could have been more forceful. It's my new goal, to get tougher when it comes to peer pressure."

"That's a good aim Rachel. Half of the time, I'm not even sure 'the girls' are your friends. They push you around a lot and keep you close because you are popular. I see many things under this tree when people think I'm reading."

She decided to ignore that little speech. Of course the girls were her friends. Besides, she couldn't exactly take advice off a guy with no friends, could she?

"Anyway, Mercedes explained to me that the dares weren't just quick and easy. She said that they were long dares and that one boy from another school had to pretend he got kicked out of school and he missed so much time doing this stupid dare that he actually did get kicked out."

Sam crinkled his nose in disgust. She couldn't help but think he looked rather cute like that.

"That's insane. Why would anyone do that?"

"I know. The thing is...when I got my dare that night...I ...I was shocked. It just seemed cruel. I didn't want to do it but somehow, I ended up here and well...here I am again. Not because of the dare but because I want to be. And I want to apologize."

He shrugged easily.

"What was the dare?"

She closed her eyes, thinking that if she couldn't see him it would be easier to tell him.

"I uh...I had to make you fall in love with me. You had to say the words 'I love you' to me. That was the dare."

She opened her eyes to find he was looking at her. She could have sworn he had actually moved closer when she had her eyes shut. She searched his face, desperate to not have to witness any trace of hurt or pain written there.

The seconds ticked by as they sat there just looking at each other. Eventually, Rachel couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Sam?"

The corner of his mouth turned up into a slight smile. She could see a hint of the dimples.

"Has anyone ever told you that you have really pretty eyes?"

She bit her lip, concerned that he had just missed the entire confession. She also felt a little flutter in her stomach at the unexpected compliment. And even though she constantly had guys at the school chat her up, nobody had ever told her she had pretty eyes.

"Come on Sam, don't joke around. I pulled out of the dare remember, so you don't have to compliment me or say you love me."

"I'm not joking. You do have pretty eyes. Mesmerizing in fact. But don't worry, I certainly won't be telling you I love you anytime soon."

"So how mad are you at me?"

To her surprise, his smile grew wider.

"Mad? I'm not mad. Rachel, you are the first person at this school who has ever been honest with me about anything. Of course, if I wanted to be really cynical I could accuse you of being nice and truthful just to get me to fall for it all quicker."

She shook her head to protest.

"No. I wouldn't do that. You can check my phone. You can ask Kurt Hummell, I was talking his ear off all last night about it. The dare is over."

"Fine. I believe you. But Rachel?"

She smiled in relief, feeling so much better now that the truth was out.

"Yes?"

"You uh...you still have hold of my hand."

Her cheeks turned red as she let go, apologizing profusely. He chuckled and picked his book back up and set it on his lap.

And then, for the remaining thirty minutes of lunch break, they sat in comfortable silence while Rachel read the book over Sams shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

When Rachel got home that night, she couldn't help but relive conversations that were had at lunchtime. She found Sam Evans fascinating. How could a person who was so intelligent and who seemed to have a lot of views on the world and way of life have no friends?

She made herself a soda and was just about to sit in front of a singing contest TV show when her doorbell rang out. When she answered, one of the prettiest girls she had ever seen in her entire life stood there. She had blonde hair that was cropped into an edgy bob and facial features of an angel. She smiled and held out her hand for Rachel to shake. Rachel took it, staring at the girl in awe.

"Hi, I'm Quinn. Quinn Fabray. Are you Rachel?"

She nodded slowly.

"Yes. I'm sorry, I don't know who you are? I don't know a Quinn."

Quinn smiled and flicked her hair back easily.

"I'm Sams cousin. Sam Evans. I hope it's not too weird that I dropped in on you like this but I really need to talk to you."

Rachel opened the door wide and let Quinn into the house. She fetched her guest a glass of soda and sat opposite her, staring in confusion.

"You're Sams cousin? Is there anything wrong?"

Quinn took a sip of her drink then set her glass aside. Worry spread on her face as she eyed Rachel.

"My Mum is Sam's Dads half sister. Sam and I are the same age. When we grew up, we were so close. But then a few years ago, Sams Dad lost his job, the family house...everything."

Rachel nodded glumly. That explained why Sam was too poor to eat lunch. Quinn continued.

"Maybe it was a pride thing because my family are fairly well off for money. My Dad has a good job. We have never struggled. Well Sams Dad, my uncle, he cut off all contact with our family. We were all upset but we figured like I said...it was a pride thing. My Mum thinks that he can't bear the humiliation of having nothing, of not being able to provide for his family when we are all doing OK, Y'know? But because Sam and I were so close, we decided to see each other without our parents knowing. He has been there for me through the worst times in my life. He has helped me with boys and he even stuck by me when I had a pregnancy scare last year with a guy from your school. Puck."

Rachel grimaced at the mention of the arrogant jock who always shouted obscene suggestions at her as she walked through the school grounds.

"I'm sorry. Noah Puckerman is an asshole."

Quinn chuckled lightly and shook her head.

"It's OK. Thankfully it was only a scare. But Sam never made me feel awful about it. He never made me feel like I was stupid and wrong. He was the only one I could talk to through it all. He's such a great guy Rachel. He's really as close as a brother to me, he's dependable."

"He seems it. But forgive me for being rude, I'm not quite sure why you want to talk to me about all this?"

Quinn took another sip of her soda and sat back in her chair.

"I go to a school across town. Since the pregnancy scare I have been having trouble with people calling me all sorts of awful names, so I asked my parents if I could transfer to McKinley. They said yes and I got to look around today. As I was being shown around, I saw you and Sam together at lunch. You looked like you were getting on really well and it lifted me for a bit because Sam has been through hell and back at the hands of bullies at that school. So I asked him about you and he told me everything that had been happening over the last few days. He told me about the dare and everything. It was decent of you to be honest with him."

Although Rachel had already been truthful with Sam about the reason she started talking to him, she couldn't help the look of guilt that flashed across her face at Quinn's words. She tried to re-arrange her face and listen to Quinn as she carried on talking.

"When Sam spoke about you, his eyes were wide with excitement. He was...well, he was happy. And I am sorry to come into your home and put on the protective cousin mask but Rachel, I swear...if you are planning to hurt him in anyway or...or if this honesty about the dare is a lie for something else you are planning then I just...I can't sit back and let it happen."

Rachel shook her head quickly.

"Quinn, I promise. There is nothing more to the story. I got pushed into doing this stupid dare thing and immediately felt at odds with it. The moment i started speaking with your cousin it made me all the more certain that it was wrong. So wrong. I don't have it in me to be that awful to a person. Sam is... well, he's interesting. I wouldn't hurt him. Please believe that."

Quinn seemed to eye Rachel for a minute to decide if she was being truthful. She finally seemed satisfied. She sat back on her chair and relaxed a bit.

"OK. You have my trust. But i should warn you that the minute a person breaks my trust, that's it. And fyi, I know Sam like the back of my hand. He has the hots for you."

Rachel blushed, not knowing where to look. She suddenly found a speck on the carpet very interesting.

"What? No...no, I am sure he doesn't. He uh... I mean...it's probably because I'm the first person who hasn't been an awful jerk to him in the past year. That's all."

Quinn chuckled, clearly finding her embarrassment amusing.

"Whatever you say. But uh...just putting it out there, you two looked super cute sitting under that tree today. He would look after you y'know. He just needs somebody to give him a chance. He needs somebody to see him for who he is rather than what the school thinks he is. Anyway, thanks for the drink. I better get going. I will see you at school no doubt. I start on Monday."

Rachel stood up as her guest did and gave her a little hug. She had warmed to her straight away.

"See you on Monday,Quinn. I'm glad Sam has someone like you looking out for him."

Quinn hugged her back and headed for the front door.

"Likewise Rachel. He's a good person. Remember that."

The next morning before the first lesson had started, Rachel could see Sam down the corridor, leaning against his locker with his back to her. After last nights chat with Quinn, she had decided to talk to Sam when she could. She didn't care what her school mates thought about her publicly interacting with him, he wasn't the loser they all thought he was. In a way, she was doing a project on Sam. She wanted other people at school to see the good in him. She wanted to be his friend.

She knew a little part of her brain was telling her that she also thought he was incredibly good looking and fun to be around, but she tried to push those thoughts away.

She quietly crept up behind him, wanting to surprise him. But as she got nearer, she could see that he was in fact looking at a phone. She scratched her head in confusion, she could have sworn he had told her he didn't have one.

She made her footsteps even quieter now, wanting to see what he was up to. Her stomach knotted up a little as she could see the all too familiar blue Facebook background on his phone. It was unmistakable. She stopped when she was directly behind him, reading over his hunched shoulder, her mouth dropping open in shock.

From where she stood, she could see Sam typing out a message to Mike Chang. Only, the profile picture wasn't Sam. It was the William Mckinley High School logo. And the page wasn't under Sams name. He was typing the message to Mike under the Truth or Dare page. Rachel gasped as she realised that it was Sam, Sam owned the page. Sam was the one who had been sending the awful dares to everyone.

Her head swam as she realised that it meant he had played her all along. He had known right from the start what her dare was because he was the one who had given it to her.

He turned around, startled at the sound of her gasp. His eyes widened as he saw her, he hurriedly pushed his phone into his jeans pocket.

"Rachel...I..uh...I"

She shook her head, her whole body shaking with anger.

"Don't. How could you Sam? How could you do that to me? You told me you didn't even have a phone. You aren't the person I thought you were at all. It's all been a lie."

She could feel tears burning the back of her eyes.

He grabbed her shoulder as she tried to walk away.

"Rachel, wait...just please, listen to me."

She shook her head.

"I honestly couldn't care if I never spoke to you again Sam Evans."

She pushed him off and stomped down the corridor with tears falling down her cheeks. She didn't look back.


	5. Chapter 5

The morning lessons passed by in a horrible blur as Rachel tried to get her head around what she saw this morning. How could Sam have been the owner of the Mckinley High dare page when he had told her he didn't even have a phone. What else had he lied about?

Although she was popular and her parents gave her everything she ever asked for, she wasn't without compassion. She only answered back to the people she thought deserved it, she had never given Sam or others an unkind word. So the fact that Sam had been sending those horrible dares to everyone, including her, didn't seem right at all. And if it had been him all along, then why had he sent her that particular dare? Just to mess with her feelings? Well she wasn't having any part in it.

She had to admit she was upset for other reasons. The last few days she had actually grown to like Sam. She found him interesting. He wasn't like the other guys at this school. He also happened to be nice looking with dimples to make any girl smile. But she tried to push those thoughts away. What did it matter now?

At lunch, she decided to go the bleachers to hang out with her friends. She wanted normality again. She glanced at the tree she had spent the last few lunchtimes at. Sam wasn't there. Hopefully he was so embarrassed by what she saw that he wouldn't show his face anywhere near her for a while. She sat down at the empty bleachers, wondering where her friends were. She guessed they were all off doing those stupid dares. How she wished this had all never happened. It had done nothing but drive a wedge between her friends and make her angry. Just as she was going to give up on sitting at the bleachers, Kurt and to her surprise, Blaine came strolling over to sit with her. she greeted them both with a hug, relieved to see a friendly face.

"Blaine! What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for my new starter day. I start on Monday!"

She hugged him again, her smile wide. She nudged Kurt with her elbow playfully.

"Oh wow! That's so great. It will be so fun having you here. So tell me everything, what made you change schools? I'm guessing it had a little something to do with this one here?"

She gestured towards Kurt who despite himself, couldn't help grinning.

"Well I would gladly tell you everything Rachel, but it looks like you have a visitor."

Rachel looked towards where Blaine was pointing, glaring as she realised Sam was making his way towards them. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his shoulders were hunched. Despite everything, she felt sorry for him. He looked so out of place and isolated. It pained her to see him like that.

"Hi everyone. Uh... I just wanted to talk to Rachel but I also wanted to make sure that neither of you guys are planning to beat me up or something before i do."

Kurt and Blaine were puzzled as Rachel couldn't help but wince at the hurt in Sams voice.

"Sam, I haven't said anything to anyone. Yet. Besides, you must know who Kurt is, he wouldn't hurt you."

Sam nodded meekly but eyed Blaine suspiciously. Blaine held his hands in surrender and smiled at Sam.

"It's not in me to fight anyone. I'm Kurt's boyfriend. Nice to meet you Sam."

He held his hand out and Sam shook it weakly. He ran a hand through his hair and looked at Rachel nervously.

"Can we talk?"

She almost gave in. His piercing blue eyes were staring into hers, pleading with her. It wasn't that she felt pity when she looked at him, it was more that she wanted to protect him. But she couldn't feel like that anymore.

"No. I'm sorry but I uh...I have no interest in anything you have to say." She turned to Blaine and Kurt who were looking more confused with each second. "Listen guys, I'm going to head home. I have a headache and i don't think I can stick it out any longer. I'll call you at the weekend."

As she walked away, she heard Sam call her name, but she didn't look back.

Later that night, she had a text from Kurt.

"Hi sweetie, hope you are feeling better now. I know it's not my business but you need to talk to Sam. He explained everything. He's not a bad guy Rachel. Blaine is sitting here with me and agrees. Talk to him. We have his number if you want to talk. xoxo"

Rachel threw her phone down in anger after typing her reply.

"If he told you everything then you shouldn't be sticking up for him. Not interested."

She spoke to no-one at the weekend. Kurt had tried calling her which she ignored, then she had a text from Blaine after Kurt had given him her number. She decided she wouldn't be talking to them on Monday at school whether it was plaines first day or not.

Monday morning came round much too quick. She made her way to Math class and sat down. Five minutes later, Quinn walked in and took a seat near her. Rachel grinned and waved, only to be alarmed as Quinn shot her a scathing look and ignored her. As the bell rang for the end of the lesson, Quinn blocked her way out of the class-room.

"You told me you weren't going to hurt Sam. You promised."

Rachel swallowed, intimidated by the fearsome look on her face. She looked like she was ready to fight someone.

"Quinn, I ...it's not..."

Quinn held her hand up to silence her.

"I don't want to hear it. My cousin has been in bits at the weekend. You have probably hurt him more than anyone at this entire school. You've let him down Rachel. Don't bother to talk to me or even look at me again."

She stomped off, leaving Rachel shaking at the doorway. She suddenly felt like she had no friends and nobody to talk to. She was tempted to go home again with the excuse of another headache, but she knew she couldn't. She was a top grade student with no leave of absence up until last Friday when she went home at lunch.

She made it through the entire day without talking to anyone. She was so relieved to see her car in the parking lot at the end of the day that she nearly kissed it. Before she got in, a shadow loomed over her. She turned to see Sam. She scowled and went to open her driver door, but he put his hand against it, stopping her from opening it.

"I get it. You are angry at me and you don't want to talk to me. But if I explain it and you still don't want to know me, then at least I tried. Just hear me out."

She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But at least get in the car. I want to get out of here. I'll drop you back home."

He eyed her for a moment, probably trying to decide if she would bail on him the minute he let go of the door. He obviously decided to trust her and walked round to the passenger side to get in.

Rachel noted as she put her seatbelt on and started the engine that his cheeks were pink and he was running his hand through his hair every minute. He was clearly nervous.

As soon as they were out of the parking lot, Sam started talking.

"I'm sorry you found out like that. For what it's worth, I was going to come clean. To you, anyway. Not to everyone else."

Rachel had to concentrate on the road, so she couldn't see if he was being genuine or not. She had to take his word for it.

"For years, I have put up with so much from everyone at the school. I heard about the truth or dare page and decided I should start one up for Mckinley. I decided to mess with people and give them horrible dares so I could laugh at their online blogs and the way they would willingly screw their own lives up for an anonymous online dare."

She gripped the steering wheel and shook her head.

"You aren't convincing me that you are a good guy just yet. What you did is awful. You told me you don't have a phone."

He sighed.

"You have to understand that I had nobody. I had no-one at this awful place. Until you."

She shook her head again.

"You don't have me now. I want nothing to do with any of this."

"I told you I didn't have a phone because I had to steer suspicion away from me. I didn't want you to know that the dare page was me. At least not yet. You have never been unkind to me. I guess...I guess I was testing you when I sent you the dare. I wanted to see how far you would go. At first, I was surprised you signed up for the dare. I was even disappointed because I thought you were different. But then you came clean and I realised that I was right about you. You're special Rachel."

She was glad she was looking at the road as he said this. She didn't want him to see her blush.

"I wanted a way to talk to you, away from your friends. I needed to get to know you."

She rolled her eyes again.

"There are other ways to talk to someone besides setting up a creepy online persona that sets out to ruin peoples lives."

"Don't. Just don't. You would have never spoken to me without that page. You might not be as bad as everyone else Rachel, but you are easily swayed. You would have never spoken to me without the dare page and you know it. How else is a guy like me supposed to make friends? You can pull over here."

Her brain was swirling with everything he said. She knew that what he was saying was true. She may not have ever personally hurt him, but she never would have spoken to him off her own back.

"There are no houses here. Where do you live?"

He shrugged.

"I live in a world that's different from yours. Please pull over. I've said my peace."

She stopped the car and watched as he got out.

"Sam, I would rather take you home. I don't want to leave you here."

His striking blue eyes bore into hers, just like earlier.

"Why? After you drop me home, are you going to speak to me again? Will you come and sit with me at the tree tomorrow?"

She hesitated. Her reaction was enough for him.

"Exactly. You don't want to know me. So we might as well just go our separate ways here. Besides. I don't want the motel room I live in becoming the butt of your jokes with those friends of yours. I'm sorry for lying about the phone and for sending you the dare. But everything else was the truth. Goodbye Rachel."

She watched, open mouthed as he slammed the door shut and walked off through the trees on a field. Her heart ached for the fact he lived in a motel room. She didn't quite know what to do from here, but she did know that she wouldn't be dismissing Sam from her life just yet. He was all she had thought about for days.

Tomorrow, she would join him at the tree, no matter what anyone at school thought.


	6. Chapter 6

Rachel had wondered if she should ask Kurt or Blaine for Sams number, but she decided against it. It would be better to see Sam face to face at school, so he could see that she was sincere in wanting to get to know him. The fact that he was behind the Mckinley Truth or Dare page had wounded her quite a bit, but she could see why he had did it. She had witnessed the bullying directed towards him day after day and she knew she wouldn't have been tough enough to deal with it. She had to give him a chance. The next day at school. she patted down her yellow skater dress and set off for the tree as soon as the lunch bell rang out. To her disappointment, he wasn't there. She wished she had some classes with him so she could have arranged that he would be here. It looked like she would have to get his number after all. She desperately wanted to talk to him.

She lingered at the tree a while, not wanting to go in case he turned up. She frowned as she saw Quinn heading towards her, looking furious. After her run in with her yesterday, she wasn't looking forward to bumping into her. She noticed that Brittany and Santana were walking behind Quinn. She didn't know that they were already friends. After everything that had happened in the last week, it stung her a little to see the friends she had wanted to talk to hanging out with someone else.

"Why are you here? I thought I made myself clear yesterday about how much you hurt Sam. I don't want to talk to you from now on and I sure as hell don't want you hanging around my cousin just so you can hurt him all over again."

"Quinn, I already told you...I'm not going to hurt him. It's not my intention."

Quinn scowled, then looked at Britt and Santana for back up. Rachel didn't like the look on their faces right now.

"It's no good lying. These two have already told me how you have tormented him over the years."

"What? No. That's not true. I've never said a bad word to Sam. Why are you lying?"

She glared at the people she thought were her friends. Britt admittedly looked a bit uncomfortable, but Santana just smirked and stood closer to Quinn.

"Sam is Quinns cousin Rachel. I had to tell her the truth. We all want to protect our family. You have never exactly ran in and jumped to his defence have you?"

Rachel cheeks turned red with anger and embarrassment that Santana was half right.

"No. But most of the time, it was you girls, the people I thought were my friends...picking on him. I knew if I turned against you I would lose you as friends."

Quinn shrugged and stifled a yawn.

"Well that makes you nasty and weak. I can't stand weak people. If you so much as touch Sam in the future, you will have us to answer to. Come on girls."

Rachel watched. shaking with anger and upset as the trio walked away. She slouched down against the tree, unable to believe that her friends could be that quick to turn against her because there was a pretty new girl at school. Maybe Sam and even Kurt had been right. Maybe those girls had never been her friends after all.

"Oh. You're here."

She jumped at Sams voice. She had been lost in her own thoughts and hadn't noticed that he had crept up to the tree. She scooted over so he could lean against the tree with her.

"Do you want me to go?"

She had thoughts of Quinns threat running through her head. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to block it out.

"I can't tell you what to do."

Sam's voice was quieter than usual. He sounded worried.

"Rachel, are you OK?"

She opened her eyes to find him eyeing her with concern. They were so close that their arms were almost touching. She wondered if she should tell him about how nasty Quinn was being, but decided not to. She didn't expect him to go against his cousin and besides, he spent his whole life being troubled at this school, she really was weak if she couldn't handle one girl being nasty.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to come and see you. I thought about you all night. I understand the reasons why you started the dare page up, but it doesn't mean I'm comfortable with it. But, forgetting all that, I want to be here. You are the only thing that's making sense to me right now."

He moved in closer at her words. They were touching now and Rachel felt a tingle go through her at being so close to him.

"You thought about me all night hey?"

He had a twinkle in his eye and she couldn't help laughing. She pushed him playfully.

"Not like that. Ever since you gave me that stupid dare you have been in my head. You may have went about it in a bad way, but your intentions were good I suppose. Can you just close the page down? It would make me feel a whole lot better. "

He sighed and to her complete surprise, grabbed her hand and held it in his lap.

"I know I've already said it, but I am sorry for starting it. I'm sorry that I initially hurt you. But if I hadn't have started the page, you wouldn't be here now so I can't really regret it. I can't close the page though. Don't ask me to do that."

She turned her body towards him, looking at their hands entwined together. It definitely felt strange, holding Sam Evans hand here under the tree, but it also felt completely right.

"But why? Surely it's stressful for you?"

"It is. But can you imagine the absolute hell I would get if people found out it was me running it? I would have to move schools. They would hate me more than they already do. I can't risk it."

"So just close it. Nobody would ever know it was you."

He shrugged. She realised that since they had been holding hands, he hadn't taken his eyes off her.

"I can't risk it Rachel. Someone at this place would find out. In fact, Puck has already flat out asked if it's me. He said if he found out for sure it was me then my life wouldn't be worth living."

Rachel shuddered. She believed with all her heart that Puck would hurt Sam, he was well known for beating people black and blue. In fact, just last year he had spent time in juvenile prison for being violent.

"And as we are being honest, I may as well carry on. Your friends...Santana, Brittany, Tina and Mercedes. They aren't your friends."

She tried to take her hand away from his in protest but he held on tighter, in a soothing way.

"Listen, I know you are going to hate me for doing this, but I knew you were different. I knew you could do better than hanging out with people who are only seen with you because of your status and parents, not because you are wonderful. So I...I uh...set them all the same dare."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Go on."

"Their dare was to destroy your reputation and friendship with you."

She really shrugged him off now and stood up, wanting some distance.

"What? Sam, that is so cruel. Why would you do that to me?"

He stood up with her and touched her shoulder. She pushed him off, her face full of fury as she tried to understand why he would do such a thing.

"I'm sorry. But they all went for it Rachel. I'm not the bad guy here. Your own friends decided that a dare was more important than you. Brittany has been having secret meetings with the principal claiming that you are cheating on your tests in different subjects. Mercedes is flat out ignoring you which is why she hasn't been seen in so long and Santana is telling the whole school that you have had an affair with your English teacher. Tina hasn't really done much for the dare yet but she's going ahead with it, I know that much."

Rachel's heart sank at his words. She knew things had been different lately. Her vision started to blur as tears clouded her eyes.

She jumped a little as Sam cupped her face. He was so close she could feel his breath on her face.

"Oh. Please don't cry. I can't see you cry because of me. I'm sorry. I just think you deserve better."

She didn't know what to do or say. She focused on his lips, noticing how full and soft they looked. He inched nearer.

She was certain that he was about to kiss her. Her heart was pounding. She knew that she wanted it to happen, she was just nervous. She was surprised and disappointed when he let go of her and stepped back.

"And just so you know, I would never isolate you from your real friends."/

She looked in the direction he was pointing, happy to see Kurt and Blaine headed for them, hand in hand. When they reached them, Sam started shuffling on his feet nervously.

"Well... I uh...I better let you guys catch up or whatever. See you later Rachel."

Just as he started walking off, Kurt stopped him.

"Wait, why don't you stay. This is your tree after all, we are invading your space."

Sam chuckled a bit. It was nice to see his face light up with a smile.

"It's not my tree. But...uh...are you sure?"

Blaine let go of Kurts hand and cheerily put his arm around Sams shoulder, steering him back to the tree.

"Of course we are sure. Let's hang out. Now sit down Sam Evans. You aren't going anywhere."

It was quite comical as Sam sat down, he looked terrified that people were actually being nice to him.

Rachel sat down opposite Sam so she could look at him for the rest of lunch.

Kurt offered them all some candy he had stashed in his bag.

"So come on you two, spill it. Are you a thing?"

Rachel blushed, not sure how to answer. She looked down at the ground, fiddling with the grass. She couldn't help but smile as Sams hand closed over hers for the second time that day, making her feel at ease. His dimples shone as he smiled at Kurt and shrugged.

"Could be. Who knows?"

He squeezed her hand, making her heart beat faster. They all laughed as Blaine launched into a note perfect rendition of Somethings Coming from West Side Story after Sams four of them spent the next hour together under the tree laughing and talking. It was the best lunch Sam Evans had ever had at Mckinley High.


	7. Chapter 7

During that lunch hour, Rachel had found out that Sam only had a phone in the first place because Quinn had given it to him after their parents forbid them to stay in touch. Despite the fact that they had had a lovely lunch sitting together and talking, Sam was still adamant he couldn't close the Dare page down. They swapped numbers and Rachel decided she would just have to convince him. She had a feeling that the closer they got, the more she could convince him to do the right thing.

She had loved the fact that Kurt and Blaine were so accepting and lovely to Sam. She couldn't imagine the girls accepting him into their group just like that. It still stung her to think that her 'friends' were all in the middle of a dare to bring her down. She would have to face the facts that they had never really been friends at all.

That afternoon at school, they had a rally assembly to get students to join various after school clubs. Rachel wanted to sit and daydream, the last thing she wanted was to be stuck in a boring assembly. She decided to dream anyway, but was startled out of her daze when Principal Figgins announced that that Sam Evans wanted to talk to the school.

She watched as he nervously made his way on to the stage, heading towards the mic stand. His cheeks were already flushed red with embarrassment and he ran his hands through his floppy blonde hair twice. She winced as some people in the crowd booed him and shouted 'Loser'. Why did people have to be so cruel?

"Hi everyone. And uh...well, thanks for such a warm reception."

Rachel burst out laughing, Sam gave her a little grin in appreciation.

"I've just spoken to Principal Figgins who said I could come up here and talk to you all. Some of you...uh, in fact probably all of you will know about a social media game of Truth or Dare. And you will know that Mckinley High has it's very own page."

Rachel furrowed her brow in confusion. Why was he talking about this on stage? And what did Principal Figgins have to do with any of it?

Sam chewed his bottom lip and looked at his feet for a moment, before taking a deep breath and looking up to the crowd again.

"The Mckinley Dare page was being run by me."

A huge eruption of boos and name calling went out around the hall. Rachel closed her eyes in disbelief. This was bad.

"I am the one who has been sending you the dares and I have access to all of the online blogs you have been sending me. Or at least, I did. The page has been deleted now. The dares that you were sent are no longer valid. There is only one person I would like to apologise to in this room for any hurt caused. Sorry Rachel."

She gave him a weak smile as more boos and anger went on around her. She was worried for Sam if he stood on that stage any longer.

"I think you all should be ashamed of yourselves for selling your soul to a dare craze. So many of you sold your own friends out or did things to sabotage your parents or your school career. You all call me the loser but I think you have to take a long hard look at yourselves. I have owned up to Principal Figgins about running the page, I have nothing to lose. I have been suspended."

Cheers echoed around the room as Rachel stood up and rushed towards the stage, never taking her eyes off Sam.

"What? No. You can't be suspended over this. It's not fair."

"Sit down Miss Berry."

Rachel jumped at Principal Figgins voice. He had joined Sam on stage now.

"This isn't fair. You can't suspend him for being honest. He has had so much crap at this school and you've just sit back and let it happen. You don't suspend people for beating him black and blue but this...this stupid online dare craze is what you get angry about?"

She was shaking. She had never in her life spoken to a teacher this way, much less the Principal.

She had no idea how Sam was still managing to smile through all of this. His eyes were soft as he spoke to her.

"Rach, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about it. It's not like I ever had anything good going for me at this place anyway."

He jumped down from the stage and closed the gap between them. He took her hands into his own and searched her face. She knew the eyes of the school were on them right now. She felt her cheeks flush.

"Kiss me."

Rachel gasped, taking a step back.

"What? I can't just...we can't...everyone is watching."

He shrugged, a sly grin on his face.

"Who cares about everyone else? What about us Rachel? You know what people at this school think of me, I want to know if you feel the same about me as I feel for you. I want to know if you will make it known that you don't care what everyone at this school thinks of me. I want to know that you just...like me. I've felt this vibe between us for a while now and I...I've wanted to kiss you so bad. but in case you don't feel the same, I'm putting it on you. So kiss me. If it's in your heart right now, kiss me."

She looked down at the ground, not knowing what to do. He let go of one of her hands and gently lifted her face so she was looking back at him.

"And if it's not in your heart...that's OK too."

Before she knew what she was doing, she shook her head. Her heart was racing. It was like she had no control over her own actions.

"As if a girl like that would want to kiss a freak like you Evans."

She didn't have to turn around to know it was Puck that had shouted the comment.

"Now get out of this school before I kick you out. If I ever see your face around here after pulling that dare crap, your in for it."

Rachel tried to block Puck out. She couldn't believe this was happening.

"Sam, I'm... I'm sorry."

He let her go. With a gentle nod of the head, he took one last look at her and walked away out of the school where people were throwing stuff and shouting names at him as he walked by. She didn't know if she should cry or run after him. She was frozen to the ground.

Principal Figgins silenced the room and stood up to the mic stand. But before he could utter a word, Rachel had stepped up beside him, pointing her finger in his face.

"How could you? How could you do this? You suspend him and let Noah Puckerman get away with threats and you just stand there doing nothing?"

"Miss Berry, I will ask you nicely to return to your seat or you will have a week of detentions."

She laughed and snatched the microphone away from him.

"Give me as many detentions as you want. But never forget that you did nothing to help one of your students when they needed your help the most. You just stood and watched as Sam walked out of here. People were throwing stuff and making threats, but you did nothing. you saw nothing. He's had the same hell for years and you've let it happen. This is your fault."

She threw the microphone down to the ground which echoed with a loud thud.

"That's a months worth of detentions for you Rachel Berry. Starting tomorrow. I suggest for today you take the afternoon off and go home to calm yourself down."

The hall erupted in laughter as she walked past them all. She saw Kurt out of the corner of her eye signalling that he would phone her later. Maybe if she were quick she could catch up with Sam. Maybe she could do the thing she hadn't been brave enough to do before. Maybe, just maybe...everything would be OK. She knew she wanted to kiss him. In fact, it came as such a need through her body that it startled her. She had to find him quick. She had to let him know that she liked him. It had crept up on her for sure, but she was certain that she felt something for Sam Evans.

"What did I tell you about staying away from my cousin?"

From seemingly nowhere, Quinn had blocked her pathway out of the school.

"Quinn...I."

She cried out as Quinn grabbed a fistful of her hair and pulled her close, snarling in her face.

"Don't. Just don't. I knew you were going to ruin him one day Berry. You made him do this. You made him close the page and announce it to the school. You humiliated him. I had to sit and watch as you rejected him. You've scarred him for life."

Rachel eyes watered with pain as she tugged against Quinns strength. She had a nasty throbbing ache where the hair was being pulled and no matter what way she turned, Quinn wouldn't let up.

"I didn't mean to hurt him OK? I want to make things right. Just...just let go of me."

Quinn tugged harder before releasing her.

"Make things right? You have got to be kidding me. I am telling you now that if you go near him again, I will hunt you down and knock every one of your teeth out. I will pull your hair so bad that clumps will fall out. I will punch you in the face with such force I will bruise my knuckles. is that understood?"

Rachel shook her head, openly crying with the unjust of it all.

"No, Quinn...please, I...I."

She could barely get her words out through the tears. She gasped as Quinn grabbed her hair once more, the pain even stronger the second time around.

"I asked if you understood?"

All Rachel could do was nod meekly. Quinn let go of her and pushed her against the wall.

"Besides, even without me on your ass, do you really think that Sam wants anything to do with you now? You broke his heart in front of the whole school. Stay away from him."

She flounced off down the corridor, leaving Rachel in shock and pain. She had bashed her shoulder pretty hard against the wall after being pushed. She weakly made her way back to the car and drove home on auto-pilot.

When she arrived at her house, she ran upstairs, slammed the door shut and cried for three hours.


End file.
